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Fewer complaints about illegal indoor grows to Arcata Police

ARCATA- The Arcata Police Department has received fewer calls and complaints about illegal indoor marijuana grows. The fewer reports corresponds with Measure I, Arcata's high energy use tax that is designed to reduce the amount of energy intensive illegal grows within Arcata.

Complaints to the department used to be a daily occurrence and is now only happening once a month said Det. Sgt. Todd Dokweiler of the Arcata Police Department. "What we have seen over the past few months is significantly fewer calls," said Dokweiler.

The grows that police are busting are smaller than the larger scale grows that would use up to 20 lights and three times the amount of electricity than an average household said Dokweiler.

In 2011 a study conducted by the city showed that 633 of 9,500 PG&E customers used 600% more energy than the average household. In the October PG&E billing cycle, only 93 customers were using over the 600 percent baseline amount.

The department will be able to focus more energy on other issues in the city like crime and violence. Dokweiler said illegal grows were one of the department's main priorities. "It's labor intensive to do grow house investigations. There's a lot of investigation on the front end, there's a lot of processing of evidence. It involves a lot of folks," said Dokweiler.

"We're responsive to what the community needs and so if we're not having those problems coming in that's something we're happy to see," said Dokweiler.